NASCAR official admits parts of new format 'created a lot of confusion'
After Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Race format didn't go as planned, Scott Miller, NASCAR's senior vice president of competition, spoke outside of the Sprint Cup Series hauler at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Drivers and fans alike were thoroughly confused throughout the event.
"We've had a format that we've never done before, and we worked diligently trying to come up with every scenario and an answer for anything that might crop up," said Miller. "This is not something that we do every day with this type of race."
Matt Kenseth fell victim to the format rules in Segment No. 1 when a caution for Jamie McMurrary's spin came out with just four laps remaining.
Kenseth had yet to make the mandatory green-flag pit stop before Lap 47, resulting in a one-lap penalty. Various other drivers were also trapped a lap down without the possibility of a wave-around.
"We ran into a situation where our race procedures didn't give us the opportunity for a wave-around, and it created a lot of confusion," Miller said. "It was a very unique race situation and we did not have enough mechanisms in our race procedure to correct that."
"It's something that if we continue on with this format, we'll have to look at."
Tony Stewart also voiced his displeasure for the format after crashing out, along with Kenseth, in his last All-Star Race as a driver.
"It's the most screwed-up All-Star Race I've ever been a part of, and I'm glad this is the last one," Stewart told FOX Sports after the crash.
Miller admitted they did not see this coming.
"You have to expect that certain circumstances are going to happen in this type of race," Miller added. "We had one crop up tonight that we could have been a little bit more ready for and weren't."
